


Sleep Easy

by bluemoonblues



Series: If You Need Me [6]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Age Play, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Nausea, Non-Sexual Age Play, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:27:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21684475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemoonblues/pseuds/bluemoonblues
Summary: Tony hadn’t been sleeping well for the past week and he had a piercing headache as a result. All he wanted was to go home with Papa and fall asleep safe, but he might have ruined their chances of solving the case instead.His day really couldn’t get any worse.
Relationships: Anthony DiNozzo & Jethro Gibbs
Series: If You Need Me [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1564711
Comments: 10
Kudos: 157





	Sleep Easy

Fighting back a yawn, Dinozzo stepped into the bullpen and trudged to his desk, throwing his things down haphazardly as he slumped into his chair. He ignored Kate’s questioning gaze in favor of booting up his computer, glaring at the bright light it emitted.

He hadn’t slept well in days and it was beginning to take a serious toll on him. His head throbbed and he rubbed at his temple, wishing he’d remembered to take something before he left his apartment this morning.

The nightmares he’d been having prevented him from getting any more than four hours of sleep a night. Those few precious hours came in short bursts, interrupted by gruesome images that had him waking up in a cold sweat.

The worst part was that he had  _ no idea _ why they were happening. DiNozzo was used to seeing horrible things in the form of graphic crime scenes and dead bodies. He couldn’t understand why he was suddenly plagued with nightmares over it. He hadn’t had this problem in  _ years,  _ not since he’d just joined NCIS and had no idea what he was getting into.

“DiNozzo!”

Tony jumped at his desk, eyes snapping open. Gibbs was walking past his desk, coffee in hand. “Sorry, Boss. Got a bit of a headache.”

Gibbs didn’t respond, but reached into his desk and pulled out a bottle of Advil and tossed it to DiNozzo without warning. He caught it but just barely, squawking as he held onto the bottle with the tips of his fingers. He ignored Kate’s snickering from her desk as he uncapped the bottle and shook out two pills. “Thanks, Boss.”

“I want a BOLO out on the suspect’s car,” Gibbs ordered, ignoring his thanks, as DiNozzo swallowed the medicine dry. “Blue Sedan, license plate number seven-three-six, Alpha-Tango-Lima-Zulu.”

“On it,” DiNozzo replied, getting to work. Gibbs continued to hand out orders to Kate, who grabbed her go-bag and walked out of the bullpen, but Tony ignored them both, using all of his focus just to handle the simple task of putting out a BOLO on the suspect’s car. His head throbbing even more and his eyes struggling to stay open, it was no easy job, but eventually he managed to get it done. 

He then turned away from his computer monitor, which had inexplicably grown steadily brighter and more impossible to stare at, and set to work on his paperwork.

Gibbs was in and out of the bullpen all day, leaving Tony to himself most of the day, thankfully. He certainly couldn’t handle any conversation in the state he was in. He wanted nothing more than to go back to his apartment and go to sleep — rather, he wanted to go to Papa’s house and fall asleep on the couch with his head in Papa’s lap as he rubbed his temple and kept the nightmares away, but they were in the middle of a case and Tony knew that simply wasn’t an option. More than likely, he wouldn’t even get to go home tonight at all, and would have to sleep at his desk. The thought of it made a lump grow in Tony’s throat.

The day passed at a snail’s pace and the Advil that Tony took never kicked in. In fact, it seemed to somehow have the opposite effect on him, the pain in his head growing stronger and stronger until he finally had to turn his computer monitor off, as the light it emitted began to make his head hurt with such an intensity that he felt nauseous. The bright lights in the bullpen made him feel no better, so he cupped his hands over his eyes to stop them from stabbing into his brain like fluorescent ice picks.

Tony tried his best to keep his eyes open even though the lights hurt and he felt unbearably nauseous, because he knew that if he closed them, he’d probably fall asleep. But his head hurt  _ so bad,  _ worse than it  _ ever  _ hurt before, and he felt like he would throw up at any second, and his throat was tight, and his eyes burned, and he just couldn’t stop them from slipping closed for just a few minutes.

“DiNozzo!”

Eyes flying open as he jumped about a foot in the air, Tony winced and looked apologetically at Gibbs where he stood in front of Tony’s desk.

“I’m sorry, did I interrupt your nap?” Gibbs bit out.

“Sorry, Boss,” Tony muttered, rubbing at his temple again to relieve the ache in his head. It hardly worked, but he kept up the motion. Maybe he could trick his brain into thinking it was working if he did it long enough.

“Any word on our BOLO?”

“I’ll check right now,” Tony replied, turning to his monitor and turning it on.

“Why isn’t your computer on, DiNozzo? We’ve got a dead Marine and I need to know the  _ second  _ someone spots the guy that might have killed him so I can bring the dirtbag in!”

“I know, Boss, I’m sorry. My head just really hurts and the light from—“

“What have I said about apologizing, DiNozzo?”

“Don’t… do it?” Tony said slowly.

Gibbs stared at him for a second. “Any word on the BOLO?”

Tony’s stomach dropped as he saw that there was, in fact, a hit and he had missed it because he’d turned his computer off. “...Yeah, Boss. Spotted thirty minutes ago in Manassas. I’ve got an address.”

“Damn it, DiNozzo,” Gibbs growled. Tony winced in preparation for a headslap that he knew would feel ten times worse given his current state, but it never came. He opened his eyes and saw Gibbs at his desk, holstering his gun.

“Do you… need me to come?” Tony asked.

Gibbs looked at him for a second. At that moment, Kate walked into the bullpen and Gibbs walked around his desk, motioning for her to follow him.

“Next time I ask you to put out a BOLO, don’t turn your computer off,” Gibbs said as he and Kate walked towards the elevator, Kate sparing him a sympathetic glance.

Tony sighed as they left, the lump in his throat growing even bigger. Now, if the suspect got away, it would be entirely his fault.

The entire time Gibbs and Kate were gone, Tony worried over his mistake. Why couldn’t he have just sucked it up and endured the pain? Now, he could’ve been responsible for letting a murderer get away.

An hour and a half later, Kate and Gibbs returned to the bullpen. Tony straightened in his chair and looked at them.

“Did you catch him?”

“He pulled out a gun when he saw us,” Kate replied, unholstering her gun and putting it in her desk. “We had to take him down.”

“Do we know if he was responsible for the murder?”

“We found the Petty Officer’s missing finger in his car, so we’re pretty sure,” Kate said.

Tony nodded and sighed in relief. The last thing he needed on his plate today was the knowledge that he’d helped a murderer get away.

“Kate,” Gibbs said. “Go home.”

Tony’s stomach dropped as he watched Kate look first at Gibbs, then at Tony with a questioning gaze. She slowly packed her things and stood, frowning once more at the two of them before she rounded her desk. “Uh, well. See you two on Monday.”

Tony couldn’t even bring himself to form a response, going through in his head just how bad the reaming Gibbs was gonna give him was gonna be that he’d actually sent Kate home before he laid it out. Most everyone else in the bullpen had left as well, thankfully leaving virtually none to witness whatever was about to happen.

Gibbs stood from his desk with his eyes on Tony and Tony swallowed thickly around the lump in his throat. “Listen, Boss, I really didn’t mean to miss the BOLO, the light from the computer was just so bright and my head has been hurting really bad all day and I haven’t been sleeping well the past week and I’m sor— I mean, it won’t happen again, I promise—“

“Tony,” Gibbs said firmly, stopping Tony’s rant. “It’s okay. We got the guy. I only sent Kate home so I could check on you privately.”

“Oh,” Tony breathed, sinking into his chair. Then, surprising them both, his eyes began to water.

“Tony, hey, it’s okay,” Gibbs — no,  _ Papa  _ said as Tony began to cry.

“Hurts,” Tony whimpered, rubbing at his head. 

“I know your head hurts, kiddo, but crying’s only gonna make it worse,” Papa reasoned.

Tony tried his very best to stop crying, but today had just been  _ so horrible _ and he felt  _ so bad  _ and he was  _ so tired _ and the tears didn’t want to stop. Papa rubbed soothing circles on his back and waited patiently.

Eventually, Tony managed to stop crying, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve and sniffling every few seconds. His head still hurt, but it did make him feel a little better to have Papa next to him.

“That’s it,” Papa said, patting his back. “Now, I need to say a few things, kiddo. First, why didn’t you tell me you hadn’t been sleeping? That’s information I need to know. What if I had taken you with me today to catch our murderer and you’d been too tired to react properly when he fired at us?”

Tony shrugged, bottom lip wobbling.

“I’m not trying to make you feel bad, Tony,” Papa soothed, stroking Tony’s shoulder. “I just need you to know that you have to communicate with me about these things. One night of bad sleep might not stop you from doing your job but a whole week is another story. You need to let me know the next time this happens, got it?”

Tony nodded, rubbing tears from his eyes.

“How about I take you back to my place tonight?” Papa asked, patting his back. “We’ll go right to bed once we get there so you can sleep this headache off. Sound good?”

Tony sniffled and nodded, and Papa gave him a small smile. “Alright, then, let’s go.”

Tony stood from his desk and followed Papa to the elevator, wiping at his eyes and sniffling occasionally. They made it down to Papa’s car in the parking garage and Tony wasted no time climbing in and buckling his seat belt.

Papa had hardly made it out of the Yard before Tony was slipping his thumb in his mouth and resting his head against the window, his eyes slipping shut. The cool glass against his skin and the gentle movement of the car relaxed him enough that he was asleep within minutes.

* * *

“Tony, wake up, kiddo,” Papa murmured, stroking his bicep. “We’re here.”

Whining, Tony opened his eyes to see that they were, in fact, already in Papa’s driveway.

“C’mon, let’s go inside and get you ready for bed,” Papa said, opening his door and climbing out of the car. Tony opened his door and put his legs on the ground, but made no move to stand up.

“You coming?” Papa asked as he rounded the car. 

Tony gave him a pitiful look and held out his arms, squeezing his fingers together a few times for good measure. Papa sighed and shook his head, but walked over and hoisted Tony up on his hip with a huff. Tony nuzzled into Papa’s shoulder and slipped his thumb back into his mouth, beginning to doze off again as Papa opened the front door and carried him upstairs to his room.

“Alright, kiddo, let’s make this quick so we can get you in bed,” Papa said, setting Tony down on his bed and moving to the closet, picking out a pair of pajama pants and a shirt for Tony to change into. He left the bedroom for a second and returned with a Pull-Up, adding it to the pile of things to change Tony into.

Tony watched Papa move around with half-lidded eyes, head still pounding. Papa pulled at his arm and Tony whined as his thumb was forcibly removed from his mouth. He didn’t have to whine for long, however, as Papa produced one of his pacifiers and popped it in his mouth. Tony quieted and immediately began sucking, happy for the distraction from the sharp pain in his head.

Papa pulled Tony’s shirt off and replaced it with a plain blue sleep shirt, then helped Tony stand and take off his pants and underwear. With fumbling hands, Tony slipped on the Pull-Up, and he nearly fell over as he tried to step into the pajama pants that Papa held open for him. Papa caught him and chuckled, gently pushing him down on the bed and slipping on the pants that way instead.

Tony’s eyes were already closed by the time Papa was done getting him dressed, but they flew open as he heard Papa leaving the room. “Papa! Wait!”

“What’s wrong, Tony?” Papa asked, frowning as he turned around with his hand on the doorknob.

“I can’t sleep alone! I’ll have nightmares!”

“Do you wanna sleep in my bed?” Papa asked.

Nodding vigorously, Tony stood from bed and grabbed his baby blanket, then he walked out of the room behind Papa. Once in Papa’s bedroom, Tony climbed into bed and watched Papa collect his own pajamas.

“I’ll be right back, kiddo. I’m just gonna go change in the bathroom,” Papa said, waiting for Tony to nod before he walked out of the room.

Though it was hard, Tony managed to keep his eyes open until Papa returned to the bedroom. He just had to make sure that Papa was  _ really _ coming back. He didn’t want to sleep alone and have the bad nightmares come back.

Papa slipped under the covers and flipped off the lamp next to him, enveloping the room in darkness. Tony scooted closer to Papa until he was touching Papa’s arm. 

“You okay, kiddo?” Papa asked, his voice a quiet murmur.

“‘S really dark,” Tony whispered back around his pacifier, “‘m scared, Papa.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about, Tony. I would never let anything hurt you, you know that,” Papa said, pulling Tony in close.

“Yeah,” Tony agreed, letting his eyes slip shut. Papa was right. Nothing could hurt Tony as long as Papa was around, so there was really nothing to worry about. With that thought in mind, Tony let himself fall asleep, not waking once during the night, his dreams free of nightmares.


End file.
